


The Way She Makes Me Feel

by Jugdish



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/F, Pre-Dates Series, References to 1983 film Yentl, Teenage Lorelai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 14:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4880332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jugdish/pseuds/Jugdish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorelai pretends to date her friend Christine to upset her parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way She Makes Me Feel

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, I tried to imagine what it might be like for Lorelai to realize that she likes girls and what that means for her in her social situation.  
> There are maybe three references to Yentl (1983) so if you don't get the comedic beat of a line it's probably an allusion to that film. Or I wrote it poorly. One or the other.

“So, Christine, we’ve known each other for a while now and I think it’s about time that I pop the question,” Lorelai said as she slid into in the seat next to Christine in the dining hall.

Christine was Lorelai’s age, about fifteen, and they went to private school together. She was several inches shorter than Lorelai, which she would never forget thanks to Lorelai’s near-constant teasing. Her hair was dyed red, just one shade away from scandal in the snobbish prep school world. She had vibrant green eyes and she dressed with an off-brand color that was a bit more punk than Lorelai’s envelope-pushing look. Where Christine would notice loopholes in the dress code she would embellish with skulls and spikes, while Lorelai would sneak in pink and prints.  They both stuck out like a sore thumb in a sea of preppy boys and girls, so naturally they found each other.

“The question? What question? Oh God, are we getting married? Hold on I hear the Four Seasons has a really long wait list for weddings so I should call ASAP,” Chistine feigned excitement, unphased by the implications of Lorelai’s words.

“It’s bigger than marriage, Christine. Your answer to this next question will guage whether or not you’re prepared to move on to the next phase of the Lorelai Gilmore Friendship Club.”

“Wait, you’ve been holding out on me, I thought premium was the highest level,” Christine deadpanned.

“Nope, say yes to this and you’ve hit deluxe, baby. So, how would you like to help me screw with my parents?”

“Do you even have to ask? Details. Spill. I assume you already have an intricate scheme up your sleeve?”

“Sewing the seeds as we speak. The Gilmores were planning on setting me up with Sebastian Montgomery and believe you me, I was not going to let that happen… so I told them I was seeing some one.”

“Who got roped into this one?”

“Well, normally I’d use my feminine wiles to round up some unsuspecting, gangly teenage boy to drag into my unfortunate home life, but this called for something more devious. So I mentioned you. I called you Chris, which isn’t a lie because I do call you Chris… or I did at least one time. And I used gender neutral pronouns so they really have no reason to believe I’m dating a boy. Again, not lying.”

“Where is this going?”

“Well being the evil, canniving people they are, they pressed to meet ‘Chris’ so they want me to invite him? You? They want me to invite you to dinner on Friday night.”

“So, let me get this straight, you want to pretend you’re dating me to screw with your parents?” Christine paused for a beat, “Okay, borderline homophobic, but I’m in. How far are you planning on taking this?”

“Ooh, I can’t wait to see them squirm! Alright, once we get to the door we ring the doorbell and start making out so that Emily sees us when she answers the door. Emily wigs out slash passive aggressively addresses the situation and we play it by ear from there.”

“Sounds good. And I’ll finally be able to get an objective opinon on my kissing abilities,” Christine retorted.

“Okay, just some basics that will make it seem authentic just in case they see through our little ruse. We’ve been dating for a month. The story of how we met will be the same, but we got together after we saw Yentl, which I did make you see.”

“Good fit considering. Gay icon Barbra Streisand, cross-dressing, not-so-subtle gay subtext.”

“I know, right? I’ll drive us to my house after school on Friday then. Try to butch it up a bit.”

 

 

Lorelai and Christine walked up to the door together, still clad in their uniforms from their day at school.

“Okay, when I kiss you I’m going to pin you up against the wall so it looks like we rang the doorbell on accident when you brushed up against the wall,” Christine said to Lorelai.

“Nice touch, Avigdor.”

“Why am I Avigdor?”

“Shh. Nevermind.”

Lorelai rang the doorbell and leaned against the wall. When Christine leaned into Lorelai, Lorelai inhaled the intoxicating heady scent of Christine’s perfume (well, it was actually men’s cologne that she used because Christine claimed it smelled better). Lorelai could feel the heat of Christine’s lips as they pressed against her own. She was surprised that Christine slipped her tongue into her mouth and she was even more surprised by her own reaction.  She felt her face getting hot and her knees getting weak. Lorelai’s body lined up with just about every cliché she could think of.

Lorelai was almost relieved when Emily opened the door simply bcause she could push the confusing feelings away, out of sight, compartmentalize, whatever.

“Lorelai! What on earth are you doing?” her mother shouted.

“Mom, um, this is Chris, she’s the girl I’ve been telling you about,” Lorelai spit out. Emily looked over at Christine to see her bright red lipstick smudged and silently thanked the Gods and/or Goddesses responsible for embellishing the scene laid before her mother.

“Hi, Mrs. Gilmore,” Christine said, only to have Emily look at her with disdain and return her gaze to Lorelai. She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. “Step inside girls. We will not dicuss this out here.”

“Richard! Get down here right now. ‘Chris’ is here!” she said the name with an unfiltered air of disgust.

“Alright, Lorelai. Joke’s over. And you still have to go on that date with Sebastian or at least I’m guessing that’s what this whole charade is about.”

“Mom, I’m hurt that you would think I would pull a stunt like this! What Chris and I have is real and you’re just going to have to accept that,” Lorelai said. Apparently she spoke with a bit too much gusto and that was all the information Emily needed to confirm her suspicions.

“You know, Lorelai, it’s one thing to fool us with your stupid tricks, but it’s another thing altogether to drag your friends into the mix. I’m sure this is not something Chris _wanted_ to do.”

“Why is it people who want the truth never believe it when they hear it?” Christine chimed in.

Lorelai smirked, “That’s your best Streisand?”

Christine shot a look at Lorelai and Lorelai’s focus snapped back into place. Lorelai, realizing the jig was up transitioned into defensiveness, “Mom, it really hurts that you’re not respecting this relationship!”

Maybe it sounded real or maybe Emily didn’t want to deal with any more of Lorelai’s explanations, but she didn’t press any further. She pursed her lips and said, “Take Chris upstairs to your room and the maid will call you when dinner is served.”

 

 

Christine held the door to Lorelai’s room open for her. “After you m’lady.”

“I’ve got to hand it to you that was bizarrely satisfying,” Christine began, “and I’m sure they’re not finished. From what you’ve told me, they’re busy drafting attack strategies for dinner.”

Lorelai flopped down on her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. Process. She could process now that she wasn’t matching her mother’s undercutting remarks. Christine kissed her, not for real, but it happened. So why did it feel different? Their intent was to upset her parents, no feelings involved. So why did it click? Why did it feel more right than any other kiss she’d ever had?

She set this whole thing up as a joke because she though being a lesbian or bisexual or whatever was just something that happened to other people. But now? Her? It dawned on her that that could be her.

“You okay?” Christine asked.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me!” Lorelai managed to get out. “You should be prepared for some lesbian digs ranging from subtle to overt at dinner.”

“Not gonna bother me.”

Lorelai’s ears perked up when she heard a rapping on her door – the maid alerting the two of them to dinner.

 

 

“So, Chris, what is it that your father does?” Richard asked.

“Actually, both my parents work. They’re both teachers,” Christine replied between bites of food.

“Hm. What a positively modern arrangement,” Richard commented.

“Hey, mom, I know how much you like musicals. Well, um, Chris and I saw Yentl on our first date,” Lorelai said.

“Really? Hm. Not really my kind of musical,” Emily said in a monotonous tone matching the expresionless look on her face.

“Okay…” Lorelai exhaled, defeated, and obviously irritated.

“Chris, do you have any plans for after your graduation?” Richard inquired.

“Well,” Christine started, swallowing a mouthful of lettuce, “I’m passionate about music and film so I’d like to be a music supervisor. But I plan on going to college first.

“What does a music supervisor do?” Richard pressed.

“To put it simply, they pick out the music that’s incorperated into movies and TV shows.”

“Interesting,” Richard said.

Lorelai, fixated on her mother. “Hey, Mama can you hear me? You’ve barely spoken a word to me all evening and you haven’t said a word to Chris all night! What would Miss Manners think about that?”

“I’m –” Emily began before Richard cut her off.

“Lorelai Gilmore! Why do you think she’s acting like this? You’ve driven her to a state of near madness by taking this _girl_ into our home. What happens if this gets out? What would your mother’s friends say? Could she even show her face at the DAR? I swear Lorelai, is it your life’s mission to make our lives miserable?”

“No, it’s just an added bonus of living my own,” Lorelai said, feeling smaller and smaller as her father’s face turned red. She looked over at Christine who wanted to jump in, tell the truth, fix it, but Lorelai looked at her and Christine knew. It wasn’t her place.

“That’s it, Lorelai. Go to your room. Chris, I trust you can see yourself out. And stay away from my daughter.”

 

 

Lorelai laid flat on her bed with her limbs splayed out so she looked like a starfish staring up at the ceiling.

Telling her parents the truth at this point would only aggravate the situation.

Her father blowing up, that was normal, that she could handle. But the crappy thing was that she was just starting to recognize a possible attraction to girls. But she could never explore those feelings. It wasn’t an option.

Lorelai fell asleep like that. After she blinked away the tears and started thinking about Yentl.

 

 

She pushed the feelings down, because maybe she _did_ want to please her parents. Christine tried to talk to her the next day, but Lorelai couldn’t look at her. Christine continued to talk to her and smile to her in the halls, and Lorelai reciprocated (barely). They drifted apart because it was too hard for Lorelai to look at her, it was too confusing. She represented the part of herself she couldn’t be in her parents’ world.


End file.
